Netflix has long been a goliath in entertainment, with projects encompassing every subsection of the film industry from teen fiction to academy award winning thrillers (think the Irishman and Marriage Story). The company’s success expanded to their documentary series; out of Netflix’s 8 total Oscar wins, 5 have been awarded for projects in the ‘Best Documentary Short Subject’ category. This begs the question, why would Netflix stray away from this format in recent production, turning instead to drama series based on dramatizing already traumatic events?
Why would Netflix pivot from the retelling of truth to the recollection of rumour?
The recent release of Blonde is a testimony to Netflix’s pivot. The film — directed by Andrew Dominik — tells the story of Marilyn Monroe and is labelled as a biopic. This suggests a story much like an autobiography, that focuses on real events within Monroe’s overtly famous life in both a respectful and fastidious manner; a testament that cannot succeed in this film. The plot is based on a work of fiction with the same name written by Carol Oates, which includes many moments that were nothing more than rumours, chiefly Marilyn’s affair with President Kennedy. Andrew Dominik cheapens this ideal even further in his directing choices, choosing to focus a large portion of the film on Monroe’s unwilling sexualisation and sexual assault, whilst simultaneously throwing in nude scenes only meant to over sexualise an already fetishized character. Beyond this, the supposed biopic tastelessly recreates the star’s death in the exact spot of actual Monroe’s death, while simultaneously preaching the media’s unfair treatment of this celebrity. The product is nothing more than a disingenuous fiction labelled as fact, which once again thrusts Marilyn’s image into the spotlight that plagued her life and made her a commodity of Hugh Hefner’s playboy, as well as the film industry.
Another example of this disingenuous monopoly of trauma is present in the new short series based on Jeffery Dahmer. The release of Dahmer was received with a great deal of praise, especially for Evan Peters, who has been reviewed to give one of the most realistic performances of a serial killer to date. While the series did well to avoid falling into the same glorification trap seen in previous stories (like Ted Bundy’s motion picture Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile), it instead fell into a very different trap. The drama once again focuses on a retelling of rumour instead of the full truth most expect from a show entirely based on real tragedies.
More importantly, the show failed to receive the consent from the victims’ families before release. The cousin of one of Dahmer’s victims (Errol Lindsey) named Eric Toulu spoke out on twitter against the series, stating that his family were ‘pissed’ and that scenes recreated for the show were ‘retraumatising [the family] over and over again’, referring to the constant recycling of Dahmer’s crimes for the sake of entertainment. Toulu goes further to state that ‘recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is wild.’ This is in reference to a scene in the series based on real trial tapes, in which Rita Isbell confronts Dahmer for the murder of her brother.
“Recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is wild”
– Eric Toulu
Netflix failed to inform the victim’s families about the short series before it was released to the public, much like they failed to listen to Monroe’s wishes as they once again used her as a commodity for the entertainment industry. These actions shatter any sincerity in the director’s and company’s claims of good intentions – it’s impossible for a series to critique an industry they are a part of successfully. It is shallow for Netflix to claim that Dahmer was in support of the victims’ families who were failed by society, whilst they simultaneously recreate distressing scenes without permission. Once again, Netflix perpetuates half-truths at the cost of the victims, aiming to create entertainment from trauma and the morbid curiosity of fans. By monetising these rumours, it darkens the memory of these events, manipulating the legacies of the dead. Their popularity on Netflix only perpetuates this new business plan, so after the success of Dahmer and Blonde the only real question is whose trauma will be monetised next?